Amir Chand Bombwal (8 August 1893 – 10 February 1972) was born in

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. He was a journalist, a freedom fighter in the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

, a

Khudai Khidmatgar Khudai Khidmatgar () was an Indian, predominantly Pashtun, nonviolent resistance movement known for its activism against the British Raj in colonial India; it was based in the country's North-West Frontier Province (present-day Khyber Pakhtun ...

and a political leader of the Indian National Congress Party from Peshawar,

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ) was a province of British India from 1901 to 1947, of the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955, and of the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan from 1970 to 2010. It was established on 9 November ...

(NWFP) of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He was the founder, editor and publisher of a weekly newspaper called ''The Frontier Mail'' and a close associate of

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (; 6 February 1890 – 20 January 1988), also known as Bacha Khan () or Badshah Khan () was a Pathan activist and formerly an Indian independence activist from the North-West Frontier Province, and founder of the Khudai K ...

whom it has been claimed he named 'Frontier Gandhi'. Bombwal was the last editor of the short-lived

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

-language ''Swarajya'' weekly newspaper, published between 1907 and 1911 by the Bharat Mata Society in

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

. This newspaper pursued a scathing campaign against

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

rule, An active member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

party, he was jailed for participation in the first

Non-Cooperation Movement Non-cooperation movement may refer to: * Non-cooperation movement (1919–1922), during the Indian independence movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi against British rule * Non-cooperation movement (1971), a movement in East Pakistan * Non-cooperatio ...

in 1921–24. Upon release from jail, he worked to rehabilitate the refugees and victims of the 1924 Kohat riots.

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

commended him for the service he provided to the riot victims. After the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

, he was arrested without charges, along with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and

Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan () (born 1883, Utmanzai, Charsadda – 9 May 1958, Lahore), popularly known as Dr. Khan Sahib (), was a pioneer in the Indian Independence Movement and later, a Pakistani politician. He was the elder brother of the Pashtun ac ...

(known as Khan Sahib) by the founder of Pakistan,

Mohammed Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pa ...

who suspected them of undermining the accession of NWFP to Pakistan. They were jailed in Peshawar Central Jail and there was little hope for their release. Upon the death of Jinnah,

Liaquat Ali Khan Liaquat Ali Khan (1 October 189516 October 1951) was a Pakistani lawyer, politician and statesman who served as the first prime minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan (, Roman Urdu, romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the he ...

, who was on friendly terms with them, assumed the reins of power in Pakistan. Liaquat Ali Khan facilitated their release from jail, and transferred Bombwal to India in 1948, where he arrived on a flight carrying the ceasefire delegation of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 from Pakistan. After Partition, he settled down in

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

, India and continued to publish ''The Frontier Mail'' from there. He gave the Indian people a floor-to-ceiling height oil painting of Vithalbhai Patel that now hangs on right side of the dais in Central Hall of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...

. He died in Delhi of natural causes. Upon his death, fifteen trunks containing his documents were transferred to the

National Archives of India The National Archives of India (NAI) is a repository of the non-current records of the Government of India and holds them in trust for the use of administrators and scholars. Originally established as the Imperial Record Department in 1891, in Ca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bombwal, Amir Chand Indian independence activists from Punjab Province (British India) 1893 births 1972 deaths People from Peshawar Indian people imprisoned abroad